Qatar Foundation fired Sidra's hospital builder and won QR1bn ($275m) in arbitration

In 2009 Qatar Foundation (QF) contracted a joint venture of Spain's OHL and the US's Contrack International to design and build Sidra Medicine, a women's and children's hospital in Doha's Education City, for roughly £1.9bn. Within five years the project was in trouble: QF alleged defaults and delays, and in July 2014 it terminated the contract and began ICC arbitration against the JV.

The JV fought the termination. In November 2018 an ICC tribunal found QF had lawfully terminated for default, and the JV's challenges — including two applications to the High Court of England and Wales in 2018 and 2019 — failed. In July 2025 the ICC awarded QF approximately QR1bn ($275m) in compensation, with a further award on costs to follow, closing what Qatar's press called one of the region's longest-running construction disputes.

The cost to both sides was enormous. QF had to complete the hospital itself after termination; its inpatient facility did not open until January 2018, years behind the project's original schedule, and the hospital was backed by a QR7.9bn QF endowment, the world's largest for a medical and research centre. For the JV, the decade-long case ended in a nine-figure liability plus reputational damage across the Gulf construction market.

QF terminated a £1.9bn design-build contract in 2014 and won QR1bn (~$275m) in ICC compensation in 2025; the inpatient hospital did not open until January 2018.

The JV took on a £1.9bn fixed-price design-build it could not deliver on schedule, triggering termination for default in 2014.

QF's contract gave it enforceable termination and guarantee-call rights, which the tribunal upheld against two court challenges.

The JV's unsuccessful court applications stretched the dispute to 2025 and added costs before the damages award.

A decade of arbitration left the hospital opening years late and consumed management attention at both organisations.

A fixed-price megaproject is a promise: bid only what you can staff and sequence, and owners should keep termination and arbitration clauses sharp so a failing JV cannot hold the project hostage.

The July 2025 award confirmed QF's earlier wins on liability; QF said it would reinvest the QR1bn into the Sidra Medicine endowment to expand services. Sidra's outpatient clinic opened in 2016 and the inpatient hospital followed in January 2018, years behind schedule. The ruling was reported as a landmark for Gulf owners enforcing performance obligations against international contractors.